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Scientist Gets 86 Years for Firing at Americans

A Pakistani neuroscientist who was convicted of trying to kill American soldiers and F.B.I. agents in Afghanistan, was sentenced to 86 years in prison on Thursday in Federal District Court in Manhattan.

The case of the scientist, Aafia Siddiqui, 38, had attracted wide attention, including in Pakistan where she was portrayed by politicians and the news media as a heroine, as well as from human rights groups. Her lawyers had requested a sentence of 12 years, while prosecutors had pressed for a life sentence.

In 2004, she was described by Robert S. Mueller III, the director of the F.B.I., as “an Al Qaeda operative and facilitator.” And when she was arrested in 2008, she was carrying in her purse instructions on making explosives and a list of New York landmarks, including the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge and the Empire State Building.

Ms. Siddiqui, who has biology and neuroscience degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brandeis University, had punctuated her 14-day trial with numerous outbursts, resulting in her being ejected from the courtroom on several occasions.

Before she was sentenced, Ms. Siddiqui was heard from again — this time with the judge’s permission — as she spoke extensively about her trial and her treatment while in custody in the United States.

In 2008, Ms. Siddiqui was taken into custody in Ghazni, Afghanistan, after the local authorities became suspicious of her loitering outside the provincial governor’s compound.

While in custody, on July 18, 2008, prosecutors said, Ms. Siddiqui grabbed an M4 rifle from a police station floor and fired on Army officers and F.B.I. agents. She was shot in the abdomen.

On the afternoon of 23rd September 2010 Pakistani neuroscientist and mother of three Aafia Siddiqui was sentenced to 76 years on five charges by Judge Berman in a Manhattan courtroom.

The Justice for Aafia Coalition released the following statement:

“We are deeply saddened by the harsh sentence passed on Dr Aafia Siddiqui by Judge Richard Berman today. At such a difficult time, our thoughts and prayers are with Aafia’s family, who have been separated from her since March 2003.

It has now been over seven and a half years since Dr Siddiqui was abducted with her three young children by Pakistani and American agencies. She has since been separated from her children and family, detained in a series of secret prisons and physically and psychologically abused by her captors. Following a blatantly prejudiced and unfair trial in which little conclusive evidence of her guilt was presented, she was found guilty.

We hoped that Judge Berman would have opened his eyes to the manifest injustice that has been committed against Dr Siddiqui and repatriated her to her country. But it seems that Judge Berman was adamant in his position despite the enormous level of public support for Aafia. Last week, Iran, in a goodwill gesture, released Sarah Shourd, an American woman accused of espionage, a crime against the state punishable by death. We are disappointed that the United States has been unable to exercise a similar degree of mercy and leniency in the case of another innocent woman who stands accused of crimes against its government.

While we are disappointed by Judge Berman’s decision, we condemn in the strongest terms the stance of the Pakistani government towards this beloved daughter of the nation. While we must never look to the wolf for protection, we expect the shepherd to care for his flock. The Pakistani government has from the outset been complicit in Aafia’s disappearance and detention, and has displayed nothing but contempt for its people and dignity through its cowardly stance in requesting her repatriation. They are a stain upon the honourable reputation of the country.

JFAC will continue the struggle for justice for Dr Aafia to try and secure her freedom and unite her with her family and loved ones. We remind Aafia’s supporters that this struggle may seem tiresome but as Imam Ahmad advised his student, we will only find rest when our feet set foot in paradise.”

This is a writing question. I see you wrote “human rights groups, some of which . . .” Why “some of which” and not just “some which?” I have been trying to get a rule on this for years, and no one can tell me why “of” is used; it seems superfluous to me. Any response will be appreciated. Perhaps your editors can respond if you cannot cite a rule of grammar.
Thank you,
Deena Maniscalchi
West Springfield, Mass.

I beleive it is not illegal to carry a list of NYC buildings in NYC, nor even a recipe for explosives. The incident in Afghanistan remains murky, like much there, and should have been prosecuted in that country, if at all. This women may well have mental health problems, but I doubt they will be helped by 86 years in prison.

This woman gets to sit in prison for 86 years on our dime? 3 square meals a day and a bed? What’s the point? Isnt prison meant to give someone time to consider thier crime and potentially rehabilitate? Didnt she shoot at US soldiers? Will she have remorse in 86 years when she’s 124 years old? America needs to grow up and get with the program. It is called war for a reason, and wars usually involve harsh choices and sacrifice, something Americans dont want interfering with their sit-com TV programming and Fox vs. CNN nonsense. Lets simply acknowlege it for what it is. Better to give her what she deserves, the firing squad. She’d likely prefer it anyway, die with her own warped sense of honor, and we’d save some $ in the process.

This is a very disappointing article. It gives no information at all about why this woman has public support. Neither does it say anything about what she told the judge of her imprisonment. What is the whole story?

get down to earth! it is less than a year ago that a Harvard graduate shot death three professors in Alabama. already forgotten ?!!! and that one was declared unfit for tenure on top of it. so sorry, but perhaps the intelligence service did not do good enough a job, after all she studied at MIT for several years one would suspect. that is enough time to make a profile of anyone except the most isolated lab rat. and it is enough time to prevent her from becoming an active terrorist. apparently all she learned at MIT is how to make a special kind of technology transfer, years before she showed up in Afghanistan. the agent responsible for her must have been in deep, deep sleep.

Yeah. can’t say which is more peaceful. Religion or people of the religion. Even MIT grads can be brainwashed to walk in path of Jihadists. No wonder we have so much trouble in the name of world religion.

Real surprise ending that she is found guilty and sentenced to 86 years instead of a harsh life sentence. She will only be 124 when he gets out. This case has smelled funny from the start. One more questionable victory in the war on terror.

This shows state of women rights in United State of America. During her trial no forensic evidence presented to prove her guilty of firing at american soldier. Only statement of american solider was thought enough for proving her guilty.

Sending someone for 86 years in jail also shows state of overall human right in U.S.

@Harish Bansal.. Shame on you! You do not care for human being. For you MIT degree is much more important. She earned MIT degree because she deserved it. and she has been put behinde the bars due to inhuman injustice system that prevails in a selfish country U.S that does not mind spilling the blood of innocent for the safety of their own Perhaps for U.S human beings only live in U.S.

Nagasaki and Hiroshima are one of the examples the way US deals with world out side the US.

Have the prior posters read the trial transcript? On what basis was the evidence about the Afghanistan shooting ‘murky’? Didn’t the agent who was on the scene testify as to the assault? Have you folks ever heard of circumstantial evidence, or is it gender alone that evokes irrational pity? Doesn’t the combination of facts – the list of NYC sites, the Afghanistan incident, the handwritten note suggesting planned attacks on those sites – mean anything? Or are you claiming that the note was forged by the CIA?

You people live in a fantasy world where your preconceived notions color every fact that a dispassionate mind would lend other meanings to.

I will concede one point: She may be stone crazy, and might have been at the time of the attack, and if that was the case, the sentence should have been far different. However, I forgot – if she’s crazy, it must have been a consequence of the CIA’s interrogation techniques.

If one reads the beginning of the the article carefully, they’ll realize that she wasn’t convicted for carry dubious recipes or maps of U.S. landmarks; she was convicted for stealing a M4 rifle and attempting to shoot multiple people with it.

Not only this women, most of the Pakistanis are like this. Terrorism is in their blood. This country should have been declared a terrroist nation long ago. All form of terrorist organizations are operating freely from this county and export terrorism to the world. The miltary and the ISI (Agengy of terror) are partners in these terrorist organizations. No other country in the world is so lame like this one. I am wondering even after the terrrosist who were grown by them, turned against them, this country is not learning its lesson.

I am surprised, after September 11, 2001, that anyone would be inclined to express any sympathy for her at all. If another terrorist act takes place, we can’t bring its victims back from the dead. So we can’t afford to allow another one to happen. It’s as simple as that.

Imagine what would happen to a US woman if she is in Pakistan under similar circumstances?
What are the chances of her getting a day in an open court:?
NEVER
What are her chances of being gang raped in police custody?24/7
Why do Pakistanis always play the “martyr” when they are the one ALWAYS committing crime?
US and other Western countries should stop helping the free loading, lying, corrupt, war mongering, terrorizing Pakistani Nation.

To Jarrar Mughal,
As well written as your comment was, Sarah Shourd should not even be considered in the same sentence as Aafia Siddiqui. I don’t recall Sarah grabbing an M4 rifle and trying to shoot people. She belongs right where the judge is sending her.

When she was beaten and raped in jails and kept in dark rooms and she used to scream in pain and her voice would leave haunting memories in minds of other prisoners there, when she is being convicted of something baseless, if she goes nutts and grabs a gun to shoot the officers there who can you blame her? Do American soldiers have the right to kidnap her from her country, imprison her in secret military prisons, torture and rape her repeatedly? those are much bigger international crimes compares to her grabbing a gun and firing shots. anyone with an iota of human sympathy or intelligence will agree.

what was she kidnapped for? carrying maps of ny? is that illigal? or is carrying a recipe for explosives illegal? none. the trial is a slap and spit in the face of justice and democracy.

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